Hypnosis
From Wikipedia, the
free encyclopedia
For the states induced
by hypnotic drugs,
see Sleep and Unconsciousness.
"Mesmerise"
redirects here. For the song, see Mesmerise (song).
"Hypnotized"
and "Hypnotist" redirect here. For other uses, see Hypnotized (disambiguation) and Hypnotist (disambiguation).
Hypnotic Séance (1887) by Richard Bergh
Photographic Studies in
Hypnosis, Abnormal Psychology (1938)
Hypnosis is a state of
human consciousness involving
focused attention and
reduced peripheral awareness and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion. The term
may also refer to an art, skill, or act of inducing hypnosis.[1]
Theories explaining what occurs during
hypnosis fall into two groups. Altered state theories see
hypnosis as an altered state of mind or trance, marked by a
level of awareness different from the ordinary conscious state.[2][3] In contrast, nonstatetheories
see hypnosis as a form of imaginative role enactment.[4][5][6]
During hypnosis, a person is said to have
heightened focus and concentration. The person can concentrate intensely on a
specific thought or
memory, while blocking out sources of distraction.[7] Hypnotised subjects
are said to show an increased response to suggestions.[8] Hypnosis is usually
induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic
induction involving a series of preliminary instructions and
suggestion. The use of hypnotism for therapeutic purposes is referred to as
"hypnotherapy",
while its use as a form of entertainment for an audience is known as "stage hypnosis".
Stage hypnosis is often performed by mentalists practicing the art form
of mentalism.
Contents
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The term "hypnosis" comes from
the ancient
Greek word ὕπνος hypnos, "sleep", and
the suffix -ωσις -osis,
or from ὑπνόω hypnoō, "put to sleep" (stem of aoristhypnōs-)
and the suffix -is.[9][10] The words
"hypnosis" and "hypnotism" both derive from the term
"neuro-hypnotism" (nervous sleep), all of which were coined by Étienne Félix d'Henin de Cuvillers in
1820. These words were popularized in English by the Scottish surgeon James Braid (to whom they are sometimes wrongly
attributed) around 1841. Braid based his practice on that developed by Franz Mesmer and
his followers (which was called "Mesmerism" or "animal magnetism"),
but differed in his theory as to how the procedure worked.
A person in a state of hypnosis is relaxed,
has focused attention, and has increased suggestibility.[11]
The hypnotized individual appears to heed
only the communications of the hypnotist and typically responds in an
uncritical, automatic fashion while ignoring all aspects of the environment
other than those pointed out by the hypnotist. In a hypnotic state an
individual tends to see, feel, smell, and otherwise perceive in accordance with
the hypnotist's suggestions, even though these suggestions may be in apparent
contradiction to the actual stimuli present in the environment. The effects of
hypnosis are not limited to sensory change; even the subject's memory and
awareness of self may be altered by suggestion, and the effects of the
suggestions may be extended (posthypnotically) into the subject's subsequent
waking activity.[12]
It could be said that hypnotic suggestion
is explicitly intended to make use of the placebo effect.
For example, in 1994, Irving
Kirsch characterised hypnosis as a "nondeceptive
placebo", i.e., a method that openly makes use of suggestion and employs
methods to amplify its effects.[13][14]
In Trance on Trial, a 1989 text
directed at the legal profession, legal scholar Alan W. Scheflin and
psychologist Jerrold
Lee Shapiro observed that the "deeper" the hypnotism,
the more likely a particular characteristic is to appear, and the greater
extent to which it is manifested. Scheflin and Shapiro identified 20 separate
characteristics that hypnotized subjects might display:[15] "dissociation"; "detachment"; "suggestibility",
"ideosensory activity";[16] "catalepsy";
"ideomotor responsiveness";[17] "age regression"; "revivification";
"hypermnesia";
"[automatic or suggested] amnesia"; "posthypnotic
responses"; "hypnotic analgesia and anesthesia";
"glove anesthesia";[18] "somnambulism";[19] "automatic
writing"; "time distortion"; "release of inhibitions";
"change in capacity for volitional activity"; "trance
logic";[20] and
"effortless imagination".
The earliest definition of hypnosis was
given by Braid, who coined the term "hypnotism" as an abbreviation
for "neuro-hypnotism", or nervous sleep, which he contrasted
with normal sleep, and defined as: "a peculiar condition
of the nervous system, induced by a fixed and abstracted attention of the
mental and visual eye, on one object, not of an exciting nature."[21]
The real origin and essence of the hypnotic
condition, is the induction of a habit of abstraction or mental concentration,
in which, as in reverie or spontaneous abstraction, the powers of the mind are
so much engrossed with a single idea or train of thought, as, for the nonce, to
render the individual unconscious of, or indifferently conscious to, all other
ideas, impressions, or trains of thought. The hypnotic sleep,
therefore, is the very antithesis or opposite mental and physical condition to
that which precedes and accompanies common sleep
Therefore, Braid defined hypnotism as a
state of mental concentration that often leads to a form of progressive
relaxation, termed "nervous sleep". Later, in his The
Physiology of Fascination (1855), Braid conceded that his original
terminology was misleading, and argued that the term "hypnotism" or
"nervous sleep" should be reserved for the minority (10%) of subjects
who exhibit amnesia,
substituting the term "monoideism", meaning concentration upon a
single idea, as a description for the more alert state experienced by the
others.[23]
A new definition of hypnosis, derived from
academic psychology,
was provided in 2005, when the Society for Psychological Hypnosis, Division 30
of the American Psychological Association (APA),
published the following formal definition:
Hypnosis typically involves an introduction
to the procedure during which the subject is told that suggestions for
imaginative experiences will be presented. The hypnotic induction is an
extended initial suggestion for using one's imagination, and may contain
further elaborations of the introduction. A hypnotic procedure is used to
encourage and evaluate responses to suggestions. When using hypnosis, one
person (the subject) is guided by another (the hypnotist) to respond to
suggestions for changes in subjective experience, alterations in perception,[24][25] sensation,[26] emotion, thought or
behavior. Persons can also learn self-hypnosis, which is the act of
administering hypnotic procedures on one's own. If the subject responds to
hypnotic suggestions, it is generally inferred that hypnosis has been induced.
Many believe that hypnotic responses and experiences are characteristic of a
hypnotic state. While some think that it is not necessary to use the word
"hypnosis" as part of the hypnotic induction, others view it as
essential.[27]
Michael Nash provides a list of eight
definitions of hypnosis by different authors, in addition to his own view that
hypnosis is "a special case of psychological regression":
1.
Janet, near the turn
of the century, and more recently Ernest Hilgard ...,
have defined hypnosis in terms of dissociation.
2.
Social
psychologists Sarbin and Coe ... have described hypnosis in
terms of role
theory. Hypnosis is a role that people play; they act "as
if" they were hypnotised.
3.
T. X. Barber ... defined hypnosis in terms
of nonhypnotic behavioural parameters, such as task motivation and the act of
labeling the situation as hypnosis.
4.
In his early writings, Weitzenhoffer ... conceptualised hypnosis as a
state of enhanced suggestibility. Most recently ... he has defined hypnotism as
"a form of influence by one person exerted on another through the medium
or agency of suggestion."
5.
Psychoanalysts Gill
and Brenman ... described hypnosis by using the psychoanalytic concept of
"regression in the service of the ego".
6.
Edmonston ... has assessed hypnosis as
being merely a state of relaxation.
8.
Erickson ...
is considered the leading exponent of the position that hypnosis is a special,
inner-directed, altered state of functioning.[28]
Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell (the
originators of the human
givens approach) define hypnosis as "any artificial way of accessing
the REM state, the same brain state in which dreaming occurs" and suggest
that this definition, when properly understood, resolves "many of the
mysteries and controversies surrounding hypnosis".[29]They see the REM state as
being vitally important for life itself, for programming in our instinctive
knowledge initially (after Dement[30] and Jouvet[31]) and then for adding to
this throughout life. They explain this by pointing out that, in a sense, all
learning is post-hypnotic, which explains why the number of ways people can be
put into a hypnotic state are so varied: anything that focuses a person's
attention, inward or outward, puts them into a trance.[32]
Main article: Hypnotic
induction
Hypnosis is normally preceded by a
"hypnotic induction" technique. Traditionally, this was interpreted
as a method of putting the subject into a "hypnotic trance"; however,
subsequent "nonstate" theorists have viewed it differently, seeing it
as a means of heightening client expectation, defining their role, focusing
attention, etc. There are several different induction techniques. One of the
most influential methods was Braid's "eye-fixation" technique, also
known as "Braidism". Many variations of the eye-fixation approach
exist, including the induction used in the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale (SHSS),
the most widely used research tool in the field of hypnotism.[33] Braid's original
description of his induction is as follows:
Take any bright object (e.g. a lancet case)
between the thumb and fore and middle fingers of the left hand; hold it from
about eight to fifteen inches from the eyes, at such position above the
forehead as may be necessary to produce the greatest possible strain upon the
eyes and eyelids, and enable the patient to maintain a steady fixed stare at
the object.
The patient must be made to understand that he is to keep the eyes steadily fixed on the object, and the mind riveted on the idea of that one object. It will be observed, that owing to the consensual adjustment of the eyes, the pupils will be at first contracted: They will shortly begin to dilate, and, after they have done so to a considerable extent, and have assumed a wavy motion, if the fore and middle fingers of the right hand, extended and a little separated, are carried from the object toward the eyes, most probably the eyelids will close involuntarily, with a vibratory motion. If this is not the case, or the patient allows the eyeballs to move, desire him to begin anew, giving him to understand that he is to allow the eyelids to close when the fingers are again carried towards the eyes, but that the eyeballs must be kept fixed, in the same position, and the mind riveted to the one idea of the object held above the eyes. In general, it will be found, that the eyelids close with a vibratory motion, or become spasmodically closed.[34]
The patient must be made to understand that he is to keep the eyes steadily fixed on the object, and the mind riveted on the idea of that one object. It will be observed, that owing to the consensual adjustment of the eyes, the pupils will be at first contracted: They will shortly begin to dilate, and, after they have done so to a considerable extent, and have assumed a wavy motion, if the fore and middle fingers of the right hand, extended and a little separated, are carried from the object toward the eyes, most probably the eyelids will close involuntarily, with a vibratory motion. If this is not the case, or the patient allows the eyeballs to move, desire him to begin anew, giving him to understand that he is to allow the eyelids to close when the fingers are again carried towards the eyes, but that the eyeballs must be kept fixed, in the same position, and the mind riveted to the one idea of the object held above the eyes. In general, it will be found, that the eyelids close with a vibratory motion, or become spasmodically closed.[34]
Braid later acknowledged that the hypnotic
induction technique was not necessary in every case, and subsequent researchers
have generally found that on average it contributes less than previously
expected to the effect of hypnotic suggestions.[35] Variations and
alternatives to the original hypnotic induction techniques were subsequently
developed. However, this method is still considered authoritative.[citation needed] In 1941, Robert
White wrote: "It can be safely stated that nine out of ten hypnotic
techniques call for reclining posture, muscular relaxation, and optical
fixation followed by eye closure."[36]
Main article: Suggestion
When James Braid first described hypnotism,
he did not use the term "suggestion" but referred instead to the act
of focusing the conscious mind of the subject upon a single dominant idea.
Braid's main therapeutic strategy involved stimulating or reducing physiological
functioning in different regions of the body. In his later works, however,
Braid placed increasing emphasis upon the use of a variety of different verbal
and non-verbal forms of suggestion, including the use of "waking
suggestion" and self-hypnosis. Subsequently, Hippolyte
Bernheim shifted the emphasis from the physical state of
hypnosis on to the psychological process of verbal suggestion:
I define hypnotism as the induction of a
peculiar psychical [i.e., mental] condition which increases the susceptibility
to suggestion. Often, it is true, the [hypnotic] sleep that may be induced
facilitates suggestion, but it is not the necessary preliminary. It is
suggestion that rules hypnotism.[37]
Bernheim's conception of the primacy of
verbal suggestion in hypnotism dominated the subject throughout the 20th
century, leading some authorities to declare him the father of modern
hypnotism.[38]
Contemporary hypnotism uses a variety of
suggestion forms including direct verbal suggestions, "indirect"
verbal suggestions such as requests or insinuations, metaphors and other
rhetorical figures of speech, and non-verbal suggestion in the form of mental
imagery, voice tonality, and physical manipulation. A distinction is commonly
made between suggestions delivered "permissively" and those delivered
in a more "authoritarian" manner. Harvard hypnotherapist Deirdre Barrett writes
that most modern research suggestions are designed to bring about immediate
responses, whereas hypnotherapeutic suggestions are usually post-hypnotic ones
that are intended to trigger responses affecting behaviour for periods ranging
from days to a lifetime in duration. The hypnotherapeutic ones are often
repeated in multiple sessions before they achieve peak effectiveness.[39]
Some hypnotists view suggestion as a form
of communication that is directed primarily to the subject's conscious mind,[40] whereas others view
it as a means of communicating with the "unconscious" or
"subconscious"
mind.[40][41] These concepts were
introduced into hypnotism at the end of the 19th century by Sigmund Freud and Pierre Janet.
Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory describes conscious thoughts as being at
the surface of the mind and unconscious processes as being deeper in the mind.[42] Braid, Bernheim,
and other Victorian pioneers of hypnotism did not refer to the unconscious mind
but saw hypnotic suggestions as being addressed to the subject's conscious mind.
Indeed, Braid actually defines hypnotism as focused (conscious) attention upon
a dominant idea (or suggestion). Different views regarding the nature of the
mind have led to different conceptions of suggestion. Hypnotists who believe
that responses are mediated primarily by an "unconscious mind",
like Milton
Erickson, make use of indirect suggestions such as metaphors or
stories whose intended meaning may be concealed from the subject's conscious
mind. The concept of subliminal
suggestion depends upon this view of the mind. By contrast,
hypnotists who believe that responses to suggestion are primarily mediated by
the conscious mind, such as Theodore
Barber and Nicholas Spanos,
have tended to make more use of direct verbal suggestions and instructions.[citation needed]
Main article: Ideomotor
response
The first neuropsychological theory of
hypnotic suggestion was introduced early by James Braid who adopted his friend
and colleague William Carpenter's theory of the ideo-motor
reflex response to account for the phenomenon of hypnotism.
Carpenter had observed from close examination of everyday experience that,
under certain circumstances, the mere idea of a muscular movement could be
sufficient to produce a reflexive, or automatic, contraction or movement of the
muscles involved, albeit in a very small degree. Braid extended Carpenter's
theory to encompass the observation that a wide variety of bodily responses
besides muscular movement can be thus affected, for example, the idea of
sucking a lemon can automatically stimulate salivation, a secretory response.
Braid, therefore, adopted the term "ideo-dynamic", meaning "by
the power of an idea", to explain a broad range of
"psycho-physiological" (mind–body) phenomena. Braid coined the term
"mono-ideodynamic" to refer to the theory that hypnotism operates by
concentrating attention on a single idea in order to amplify the ideo-dynamic
reflex response. Variations of the basic ideo-motor, or ideo-dynamic, theory of
suggestion have continued to exercise considerable influence over subsequent
theories of hypnosis, including those of Clark L. Hull, Hans Eysenck, and
Ernest Rossi.[40] It should be noted
that in Victorian psychology the word "idea" encompasses any mental
representation, including mental imagery, memories, etc.
Main article: Hypnotic susceptibility
Braid made a rough distinction between
different stages of hypnosis, which he termed the first and second conscious
stage of hypnotism;[43] he later replaced
this with a distinction between "sub-hypnotic", "full
hypnotic", and "hypnotic coma" stages.[44] Jean-Martin
Charcot made a similar distinction between stages which he
named somnambulism, lethargy, and catalepsy. However, Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault and Hippolyte
Bernheim introduced more complex hypnotic "depth" scales based on a
combination of behavioural, physiological, and subjective responses, some of
which were due to direct suggestion and some of which were not. In the first
few decades of the 20th century, these early clinical "depth" scales
were superseded by more sophisticated "hypnotic susceptibility"
scales based on experimental research. The most influential were the
Davis–Husband and Friedlander–Sarbin scales developed in the 1930s. André Weitzenhoffer and Ernest R. Hilgard developed
the Stanford Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility in 1959, consisting of 12
suggestion test items following a standardised hypnotic eye-fixation induction
script, and this has become one of the most widely referenced research tools in
the field of hypnosis. Soon after, in 1962, Ronald Shor and Emily Carota Orne
developed a similar group scale called the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic
Susceptibility (HGSHS).
Whereas the older "depth scales"
tried to infer the level of "hypnotic trance" from supposed
observable signs such as spontaneous amnesia, most subsequent scales have
measured the degree of observed or self-evaluated responsiveness to
specific suggestion tests such as direct suggestions of arm rigidity
(catalepsy). The Stanford, Harvard, HIP, and most other susceptibility scales
convert numbers into an assessment of a person's susceptibility as
"high", "medium", or "low". Approximately 80% of
the population are medium, 10% are high, and 10% are low. There is some
controversy as to whether this is distributed on a "normal"
bell-shaped curve or whether it is bi-modal with a small "blip" of
people at the high end.[45] Hypnotizability
Scores are highly stable over a person's lifetime. Research by Deirdre Barrett
has found that there are two distinct types of highly susceptible subjects,
which she terms fantasizers and dissociaters. Fantasizers score high on
absorption scales, find it easy to block out real-world stimuli without
hypnosis, spend much time daydreaming, report imaginary companions as a child,
and grew up with parents who encouraged imaginary play. Dissociaters often have
a history of childhood abuse or other trauma, learned to escape into numbness,
and to forget unpleasant events. Their association to "daydreaming"
was often going blank rather than creating vividly recalled fantasies. Both
score equally high on formal scales of hypnotic susceptibility.[46][47][48]
Individuals with dissociative identity disorder have the highest
hypnotisability of any clinical group,
followed by those with posttraumatic stress disorder.[49]
Main article: History
of hypnosis
Hypnosis is not exactly a new concept.
People have been entering into hypnotic-type trances for thousands of years. In
many cultures and religions, it was regarded as a form of meditation. Modern
day hypnosis however started in the late 18th century and was made popular
by Franz
Mesmer, an Austrian physician who became known as the father of
‘modern hypnotism’. In fact, hypnosis used to be known as ‘Mesmerism’ as it was
named after Mesmer.
Mesmer held the opinion that hypnosis was a
sort of mystical force that flows from the hypnotist to the person being
hypnotized but his theory was dismissed by critics who asserted that there was
no magical element to hypnotism.
Before long, hypnotism started finding its
way into the world of modern medicine. The use of hypnotism in the medical field
was made popular by surgeons and physicians like Elliotson and
James Esdaille and researchers like James Braid who helped to reveal the
biological and physical benefits of hypnotism. [50] According to his
writings, Braid began to hear reports concerning various Oriental meditative practices soon
after the release of his first publication on hypnotism, Neurypnology(1843).
He first discussed some of these oriental practices in a series of articles
entitled Magic, Mesmerism, Hypnotism, etc., Historically &
Physiologically Considered. He drew analogies between his own practice of
hypnotism and various forms of Hindu yoga meditation and other ancient
spiritual practices, especially those involving voluntary
burial and apparent human hibernation.
Braid's interest in these practices stems from his studies of the Dabistān-i
Mazāhib, the "School of Religions", an ancient Persian
text describing a wide variety of Oriental religious rituals, beliefs, and
practices.
Last May [1843], a gentleman residing in
Edinburgh, personally unknown to me, who had long resided in India, favored me
with a letter expressing his approbation of the views which I had published on
the nature and causes of hypnotic and mesmeric phenomena. In corroboration of
my views, he referred to what he had previously witnessed in oriental regions,
and recommended me to look into the Dabistan, a book lately
published, for additional proof to the same effect. On much recommendation I
immediately sent for a copy of the Dabistan, in which I found many
statements corroborative of the fact, that the eastern saints are all self-hypnotisers,
adopting means essentially the same as those which I had recommended for
similar purposes.[51]
Although he rejected the
transcendental/metaphysical interpretation given to these phenomena outright,
Braid accepted that these accounts of Oriental practices supported his view
that the effects of hypnotism could be produced in solitude, without the
presence of any other person (as he had already proved to his own satisfaction
with the experiments he had conducted in November 1841); and he saw
correlations between many of the "metaphysical" Oriental practices
and his own "rational" neuro-hypnotism, and totally rejected all of
the fluid theories and magnetic practices of the mesmerists. As he later wrote:
In as much as patients can throw themselves
into the nervous sleep, and manifest all the usual phenomena of Mesmerism,
through their own unaided efforts, as I have so repeatedly proved by causing
them to maintain a steady fixed gaze at any point, concentrating their whole
mental energies on the idea of the object looked at; or that the same may arise
by the patient looking at the point of his own finger, or as the Magi of Persia
and Yogi of India have practised for the last 2,400 years, for religious
purposes, throwing themselves into their ecstatic trances by each maintaining a
steady fixed gaze at the tip of his own nose; it is obvious that there is no
need for an exoteric influence to produce the phenomena of Mesmerism. […] The
great object in all these processes is to induce a habit of abstraction or
concentration of attention, in which the subject is entirely absorbed with one
idea, or train of ideas, whilst he is unconscious of, or indifferently
conscious to, every other object, purpose, or action.[52]
Avicenna (980–1037),
a Persian physician, documented the characteristics of the "trance"
(Hypnotic Trance) state in 1027. At that time, hypnosis as a medical treatment
was seldom used until the German doctor Franz Mesmer, reintroduced it in the
18th century.[53]
Franz Mesmer (1734–1815)
believed that there is a magnetic force or
"fluid" called "animal magnetism" within the universe that
influences the health of the human body. He experimented with magnets to impact
this field in order to produce healing. By around 1774, he had concluded that
the same effect could be created by passing the hands in front of the subject's
body, later referred to as making "Mesmeric passes". The word
"mesmerize", formed from the last name of Franz Mesmer, was
intentionally used to separate practitioners of mesmerism from the various
"fluid" and "magnetic" theories included within the label
"magnetism".
In 1784, at the request of King
Louis XVI, a Board of Inquiry started to investigate whether animal
magnetism existed. Among the board members were founding father of modern
chemistry Antoine
Lavoisier, Benjamin Franklin,
and an expert in pain control, Joseph-Ignace Guillotin. They investigated the
practices of a disaffected student of Mesmer, one Charles d'Eslon (1750–1786),
and though they concluded that Mesmer's results were valid, their
placebo-controlled experiments using d'Eslon's methods convinced them that
mesmerism was most likely due to belief and imagination rather than to an
invisible energy ("animal magnetism") transmitted from the body of
the mesmerist.
In writing the majority opinion, Franklin
said: "This fellow Mesmer is not flowing anything from his hands that I
can see. Therefore, this mesmerism must be a fraud." Mesmer left Paris and
went back to Vienna to practise mesmerism.
Following the French committee's
findings, Dugald
Stewart, an influential academic philosopher of the "Scottish School of Common Sense", encouraged
physicians in his Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind (1818)[54] to salvage elements
of Mesmerism by replacing the supernatural theory of "animal
magnetism" with a new interpretation based upon "common sense"
laws of physiology and
psychology. Braid quotes the following passage from Stewart:[55]
It appears to me, that the general
conclusions established by Mesmer's practice, with respect to the physical
effects of the principle of imagination (more particularly in cases where they
co-operated together), are incomparably more curious than if he had actually
demonstrated the existence of his boasted science [of "animal
magnetism"]: nor can I see any good reason why a physician, who admits the
efficacy of the moral [i.e., psychological] agents employed by Mesmer, should,
in the exercise of his profession, scruple to copy whatever processes are
necessary for subjecting them to his command, any more than that he should
hesitate about employing a new physical agent, such as electricity or
galvanism.[54]
In Braid's day, the Scottish School of
Common Sense provided the dominant theories of academic psychology, and Braid
refers to other philosophers within this tradition throughout his writings.
Braid therefore revised the theory and practice of Mesmerism and developed his
own method of hypnotism as a more rational and common sense alternative.
It may here be requisite for me to explain,
that by the term Hypnotism, or Nervous Sleep, which frequently occurs in the
following pages, I mean a peculiar condition of the nervous system, into which
it may be thrown by artificial contrivance, and which differs, in several
respects, from common sleep or the waking condition. I do not allege that this
condition is induced through the transmission of a magnetic or occult influence
from my body into that of my patients; nor do I profess, by my processes, to
produce the higher [i.e., supernatural] phenomena of the Mesmerists. My
pretensions are of a much more humble character, and are all consistent with
generally admitted principles in physiological and psychological science.
Hypnotism might therefore not inaptly be designated, Rational Mesmerism, in
contra-distinction to the Transcendental Mesmerism of the Mesmerists.[56]
Despite briefly toying with the name
"rational Mesmerism", Braid ultimately chose to emphasise the unique
aspects of his approach, carrying out informal experiments throughout his
career in order to refute practices that invoked supernatural forces and
demonstrating instead the role of ordinary physiological and psychological
processes such as suggestion and focused attention in producing the observed
effects.
Braid worked very closely with his friend
and ally the eminent physiologist Professor William Benjamin Carpenter, an early
neuro-psychologist who introduced the "ideo-motor reflex" theory of
suggestion. Carpenter had observed instances of expectation and imagination
apparently influencing involuntary muscle movement. A classic example of the
ideo-motor principle in action is the so-called "Chevreul pendulum"
(named after Michel Eugène Chevreul). Chevreul claimed that
divinatory pendulae were made to swing by unconscious muscle movements brought
about by focused concentration alone.
Braid soon assimilated Carpenter's
observations into his own theory, realising that the effect of focusing
attention was to enhance the ideo-motor reflex response. Braid extended
Carpenter's theory to encompass the influence of the mind upon the body more
generally, beyond the muscular system, and therefore referred to the
"ideo-dynamic" response and coined the term
"psycho-physiology" to refer to the study of general mind/body
interaction.
In his later works, Braid reserved the term
"hypnotism" for cases in which subjects entered a state of amnesia
resembling sleep. For other cases, he spoke of a "mono-ideodynamic"
principle to emphasise that the eye-fixation induction technique worked by narrowing
the subject's attention to a single idea or train of thought
("monoideism"), which amplified the effect of the consequent
"dominant idea" upon the subject's body by means of the ideo-dynamic
principle.[57]
For several decades Braid's work became
more influential abroad than in his own country, except for a handful of
followers, most notably Dr. John
Milne Bramwell. The eminent neurologist Dr. George
Miller Beard took Braid's theories to America. Meanwhile, his
works were translated into German by William Thierry Preyer, Professor of Physiology
at Jena
University. The psychiatrist Albert Moll subsequently continued German
research, publishing Hypnotism in 1889. France became the
focal point for the study of Braid's ideas after the eminent neurologist
Dr. Étienne
Eugène Azam translated Braid's last manuscript (On Hypnotism,
1860) into French and presented Braid's research to the French Academy
of Sciences. At the request of Azam, Paul Broca, and
others, the French Academy of Science, which had investigated
Mesmerism in 1784, examined Braid's writings shortly after his death.[58]
Azam's enthusiasm for hypnotism
influenced Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault, a country doctor. Hippolyte
Bernheim discovered Liébeault's enormously popular group
hypnotherapy clinic and subsequently became an influential hypnotist. The study
of hypnotism subsequently revolved around the fierce debate between Bernheim
and Jean-Martin
Charcot, the two most influential figures in late 19th-century
hypnotism.
Charcot operated a clinic at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital (thus, known as the
"Paris School" or the "Salpêtrière School"), while Bernheim
had a clinic in Nancy(known
as the "Nancy
School"). Charcot, who was influenced more by the Mesmerists,
argued that hypnotism was an abnormal state of nervous functioning found only
in certain hysterical women.
He claimed that it manifested in a series of physical reactions that could be
divided into distinct stages. Bernheim argued that anyone could be hypnotised,
that it was an extension of normal psychological functioning, and that its
effects were due to suggestion. After decades of debate, Bernheim's view
dominated. Charcot's theory is now just a historical curiosity.[59]
Pierre Janet (1859–1947)
reported studies on a hypnotic subject in 1882. Charcot subsequently appointed
him director of the psychological laboratory at the Salpêtrière in 1889, after
Janet had completed his PhD, which dealt with psychological automatism.
In 1898, Janet was appointed psychology lecturer at the Sorbonne,
and in 1902 he became chair of experimental and comparative psychology at
the Collège
de France.[60] Janet reconciled
elements of his views with those of Bernheim and his followers, developing his
own sophisticated hypnotic psychotherapy based
upon the concept of psychological dissociation, which, at the turn of the century,
rivalled Freud's attempt to provide a more comprehensive theory of
psychotherapy.
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939),
the founder of psychoanalysis,
studied hypnotism at the Paris School and briefly visited the Nancy School.
At first, Freud was an enthusiastic
proponent of hypnotherapy. He "initially hypnotised patients and pressed
on their foreheads to help them concentrate while attempting to recover
(supposedly) repressed memories",[61] and he soon began
to emphasise hypnotic regression and ab reaction (catharsis) as
therapeutic methods. He wrote a favorable encyclopedia article on hypnotism,
translated one of Bernheim's works into German, and published an influential
series of case studies with his colleague Joseph Breuer entitled Studies
on Hysteria (1895). This became the founding text of the
subsequent tradition known as "hypno-analysis" or "regression
hypnotherapy".
However, Freud gradually abandoned
hypnotism in favour of psychoanalysis, emphasizing free association and
interpretation of the unconscious. Struggling with the great expense of time
that psychoanalysis required, Freud later suggested that it might be combined
with hypnotic suggestion to hasten the outcome of treatment, but that this
would probably weaken the outcome: "It is very probable, too, that the
application of our therapy to numbers will compel us to alloy the pure gold of
analysis plentifully with the copper of direct [hypnotic] suggestion."[62]
Only a handful of Freud's followers,
however, were sufficiently qualified in hypnosis to attempt the synthesis.
Their work had a limited influence on the hypno-therapeutic approaches now
known variously as "hypnotic regression", "hypnotic progression",
and "hypnoanalysis".
Émile Coué developed autosuggestion as
a psychological technique.
Further
information: Autosuggestion
Émile Coué (1857–1926)
assisted Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault for around two years at Nancy. After
practising for several months employing the "hypnosis" of Liébeault
and Bernheim's Nancy School, he abandoned their approach altogether. Later,
Coué developed a new approach (c.1901) based on Braid-style
"hypnotism", direct hypnotic suggestion, and ego-strengthening which
eventually became known as La méthode Coué.[63] According to Charles Baudouin Coué
founded what became known as the New Nancy School, a loose collaboration of
practitioners who taught and promoted his views.[64][65] Coué's method did
not emphasise "sleep" or deep relaxation, but instead focused
upon autosuggestion involving
a specific series of suggestion tests. Although Coué argued that he was no
longer using hypnosis, followers such as Charles Baudouin viewed
his approach as a form of light self-hypnosis. Coué's method became a
renowned self-help and
psychotherapy technique, which contrasted with psychoanalysis and prefigured
self-hypnosis and cognitive
therapy.
The next major development came from behavioural psychology in American university
research. Clark
L. Hull (1884–1952), an eminent American psychologist,
published the first major compilation of laboratory studies on hypnosis, Hypnosis
& Suggestibility (1933), in which he proved that hypnosis and
sleep had nothing in common. Hull published many quantitative findings from
hypnosis and suggestion experiments and encouraged research by mainstream
psychologists. Hull's behavioural psychology interpretation of hypnosis,
emphasising conditioned reflexes, rivalled the Freudian psycho-dynamic
interpretation which emphasised unconscious transference.
Although Dave Elman (1900–1967)
was a noted radio host, comedian, and songwriter, he also made a name as a
hypnotist. He led many courses for physicians, and in 1964 wrote the book Findings
in Hypnosis, later to be retitled Hypnotherapy (published
by Westwood Publishing). Perhaps the most well-known aspect of Elman's legacy
is his method of induction, which was originally fashioned for speed work and
later adapted for the use of medical professionals; his students routinely
obtained states of hypnosis adequate for medical and surgical procedures in
under three minutes.[citation needed] His book and
recordings provide much more than just his rapid induction techniques, however.
The first heart operation using hypnosis rather than normal anesthesia (because
of severe problems with the patient) was performed by his students with Dave
Elman in the operating room as "coach".[citation needed]
Milton
Erickson (1901–1980) was one of the most influential post-war
hypnotherapists. He wrote several books and journal articles on the subject.
During the 1960s, Erickson popularized a new branch of hypnotherapy, known
as Ericksonian
therapy, characterised primarily by indirect suggestion,
"metaphor" (actually analogies), confusion techniques, and double binds in
place of formal hypnotic inductions. However, the difference between Erickson's
methods and traditional hypnotism led contemporaries such as André Weitzenhoffer to question whether he was
practising "hypnosis" at all, and his approach remains in question.
Erickson had no hesitation in presenting
any suggested effect as being "hypnosis", whether or not the subject
was in a hypnotic state. In fact, he was not hesitant in passing off behaviour
that was dubiously hypnotic as being hypnotic.[66]
In the latter half of the 20th century, two
factors contributed to the development of the cognitive-behavioural approach to
hypnosis:
1.
Cognitive and behavioural theories of the
nature of hypnosis (influenced by the theories of Sarbin[67] and Barber[35]) became increasingly
influential.
2.
The therapeutic practices of hypnotherapy
and various forms of cognitive behavioural therapy overlapped and influenced
each other.[68][69]
Although cognitive-behavioural theories of
hypnosis must be distinguished from cognitive-behavioural approaches to
hypnotherapy, they share similar concepts, terminology, and assumptions and
have been integrated by influential researchers and clinicians such as Irving Kirsch, Steven Jay Lynn, and others.[70]
At the outset of cognitive behavioural therapy during the 1950s,
hypnosis was used by early behaviour therapists such as Joseph Wolpe[71] and also by early
cognitive therapists such as Albert Ellis.[72] Barber, Spanos, and
Chaves introduced the term "cognitive-behavioural" to describe their
"nonstate" theory of hypnosis in Hypnosis, imagination, and
human potentialities.[35] However, Clark L. Hull had
introduced a behavioural psychology as far back as 1933, which in turn was
preceded by Ivan
Pavlov.[73] Indeed, the
earliest theories and practices of hypnotism, even those of Braid, resemble the
cognitive-behavioural orientation in some respects.[69][74]
There are numerous applications for
hypnosis across multiple fields of interest, including
medical/psychotherapeutic uses, military uses, self-improvement, and
entertainment. The American Medical Association currently has no
official stance on the medical use of hypnosis. However, a study published in
1958 by the Council on Mental Health of the American Medical Association
documented the efficacy of hypnosis in clinical settings.[75]
Hypnosis has been used as a supplemental
approach to cognitive behavioral therapy since as early as
1949. Hypnosis was defined in relation to classical conditioning; where the words of the
therapist were the stimuli and the hypnosis would be the conditioned response.
Some traditional cognitive behavioral therapy methods were based in classical
conditioning. It would include inducing a relaxed state and introducing a feared stimuli.
One way of inducing the relaxed state was through hypnosis.[76]
Hypnotism has also been used in forensics, sports,
education, physical
therapy, and rehabilitation.[77] Hypnotism has also
been employed by artists for creative purposes, most notably the surrealist
circle of André
Breton who employed hypnosis, automatic writing,
and sketches for creative purposes. Hypnotic methods have been used to
re-experience drug states[78] and mystical
experiences.[79][80] Self-hypnosis is
popularly used to quit
smoking, alleviate stress and anxiety, promote weight loss, and
induce sleep hypnosis. Stage hypnosis can persuade people to perform unusual
public feats.[81]
Some people have drawn analogies between
certain aspects of hypnotism and areas such as crowd psychology, religious
hysteria, and ritual trances in preliterate tribal cultures.[82]
Main article: Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is a use of hypnosis in
psychotherapy.[83][84][85] It is used by
licensed physicians, psychologists, and others. Physicians and psychologists
may use hypnosis to treat depression, anxiety, eating disorders, sleep disorders, compulsive gambling,
and posttraumatic stress,[86][87][88] while certified
hypnotherapists who are not physicians or psychologists often treat smoking and
weight management.
Hypnotherapy is a helpful adjunct having
additive effects when treating psychological disorders, such as these, along
with scientifically proven cognitive therapies.
Hypnotherapy should not be used for repairing or refreshing memory because
hypnosis results in memory hardening, which increases the confidence in false memories.[89]
Preliminary research has expressed brief
hypnosis interventions as possibly being a useful tool for managing painful
HIV-DSP because of its history of usefulness in pain management, its
long-term effectiveness of brief interventions, the ability to teach
self-hypnosis to patients, the cost-effectiveness of the intervention, and the
advantage of using such an intervention as opposed to the use of pharmaceutical
drugs.[90]
Modern hypnotherapy has been used, with
varying success, in a variety of forms, such as:
Charcot demonstrating
hypnosis on a "hysterical" Salpêtrière patient,
"Blanche" (Marie Wittmann), who is supported by Joseph
Babiński.[91]
·
Cognitive-behavioural hypnotherapy, or
clinical hypnosis combined with elements of cognitive behavioural therapy[69]
·
Age regression hypnotherapy (or
"hypnoanalysis")
·
Soothing anxious surgical patients
A hypnotic trance is not therapeutic in and
of itself, but specific suggestions and images fed to clients in a trance can
profoundly alter their behavior. As they rehearse the new ways they want to
think and feel, they lay the groundwork for changes in their future actions...
Barrett described specific ways this is
operationalized for habit change and amelioration of phobias. In her 1998 book
of hypnotherapy case studies,[87] she reviews the
clinical research on hypnosis with dissociative disorders, smoking cessation,
and insomnia, and describes successful treatments of these complaints.
In a July 2001 article for Scientific
American titled "The Truth and the Hype of
Hypnosis", Michael Nash wrote that, "using hypnosis, scientists have
temporarily created hallucinations, compulsions, certain types of memory loss,
false memories, and delusions in the laboratory so that these phenomena can be
studied in a controlled environment."[116]
Hypnotherapy has been studied for the
treatment of irritable bowel syndrome.[117][118] Hypnosis for IBS
has received moderate support in the National Institute for Health
and Clinical Excellence guidance published for UK health
services.[119] It has been used as
an aid or alternative to chemical anesthesia,[120][121][122] and it has been
studied as a way to soothe skin ailments.[123]
A number of studies show that hypnosis can
reduce the pain experienced during burn-wound debridement,[124] bone marrow
aspirations, and childbirth.[125][126] The International
Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis found that hypnosis
relieved the pain of 75% of 933 subjects participating in 27 different
experiments.[116]
Hypnosis is effective in reducing pain from[127] and coping with
cancer[128] and other chronic
conditions.[116] Nausea and other
symptoms related to incurable diseases may also be managed with hypnosis.[129][130][131][132] Some practitioners
have claimed hypnosis might help boost the immune system of people with cancer.
However, according to the American Cancer Society, "available scientific
evidence does not support the idea that hypnosis can influence the development
or progression of cancer."[133]
Hypnosis has been used as a pain relieving
technique during dental
surgery and related pain management regimens as well.
Researchers like Jerjes and his team have reported that hypnosis can help even
those patients who have acute to severe orodental pain.[134] Additionally,
Meyerson and Uziel have suggested that hypnotic methods have been found to be
highly fruitful for alleviating anxiety in patients suffering from severe
dental phobia.[135]
For some psychologists who uphold the
altered state theory of hypnosis, pain relief in response to hypnosis is said
to be the result of the brain's dual-processingfunctionality.
This effect is obtained either through the process of selective attention or
dissociation, in which both theories involve the presence of activity in pain
receptive regions of the brain, and a difference in the processing of the
stimuli by the hypnotised subject.[136]
The American Psychological Association
published a study comparing the effects of hypnosis, ordinary suggestion, and
placebo in reducing pain. The study found that highly suggestible individuals
experienced a greater reduction in pain from hypnosis compared with placebo,
whereas less suggestible subjects experienced no pain reduction from hypnosis
when compared with placebo. Ordinary non-hypnotic suggestion also caused
reduction in pain compared to placebo, but was able to reduce pain in a wider
range of subjects (both high and low suggestible) than hypnosis. The results
showed that it is primarily the subject's responsiveness to suggestion, whether
within the context of hypnosis or not, that is the main determinant of causing
reduction in pain.[137]
Treating skin diseases with hypnosis (hypnodermatology)
has performed well in treating warts, psoriasis, and
atopic dermatitis.[138]
The success rate for habit control is
varied. A meta-study researching hypnosis as a quit-smoking tool found it had a
20 to 30 percent success rate,[139] while a 2007 study
of patients hospitalised for cardiac and pulmonary ailments found that smokers
who used hypnosis to quit smoking doubled their chances of success.[140]
Hypnosis may be useful as an adjunct
therapy for weight loss. A 1996 meta-analysis studying hypnosis combined with
cognitive behavioural therapy found that people using both treatments lost more
weight than people using cognitive behavioural therapy alone.[141] The virtual
gastric band procedure mixes hypnosis with hypnopedia. The
hypnosis instructs the stomach that it is smaller than it really is, and
hypnopedia reinforces alimentary habits. A 2016 pilot study found that there
was no significant difference in effectiveness between VGB hypnotherapy and
relaxation hypnotherapy.[142]
Controversy surrounds the use of
hypnotherapy to retrieve memories, especially those from early childhood or
(supposed) past-lives. The American Medical Association and the American
Psychological Association caution against recovered-memory therapy in cases of alleged
childhood trauma, stating that "it is impossible, without corroborative
evidence, to distinguish a true memory from a false one."[143] Past
life regression, meanwhile, is often viewed with skepticism.[144][145]
Psychiatric nurses in most medical
facilities are allowed to administer hypnosis to patients in order to relieve
symptoms such as anxiety, arousal, negative behaviours, uncontrollable
behaviour, and to improve self-esteem and confidence. This is permitted only
when they have been completely trained about their clinical side effects and
while under supervision when administering it.[146]
A 2006 declassified 1966
document obtained by the US Freedom of Information Act archive shows
that hypnosis was investigated for military applications.[147] The full paper
explores the potentials of operational uses.[147] The overall
conclusion of the study was that there was no evidence that hypnosis could be
used for military applications, and no clear evidence whether
"hypnosis" is a definable phenomenon outside ordinary suggestion,
motivation, and subject expectancy. According to the document:
The use of hypnosis in intelligence would
present certain technical problems not encountered in the clinic or laboratory.
To obtain compliance from a resistant source, for example, it would be
necessary to hypnotise the source under essentially hostile circumstances.
There is no good evidence, clinical or experimental, that this can be done.[147]
Furthermore, the document states that:
It would be difficult to find an area of
scientific interest more beset by divided professional opinion and
contradictory experimental evidence…No one can say whether hypnosis is a
qualitatively unique state with some physiological and conditioned response
components or only a form of suggestion induced by high motivation and a
positive relationship between hypnotist and subject…T.X. Barber has produced "hypnotic
deafness" and "hypnotic blindness", analgesia and other
responses seen in hypnosis—all without hypnotizing anyone…Orne has shown that
unhypnotized persons can be motivated to equal and surpass the supposed
superhuman physical feats seen in hypnosis.[147]
The study concludes:
It is probably significant that in the long
history of hypnosis, where the potential application to intelligence has always
been known, there are no reliable accounts of its effective use by an
intelligence service.[147]
Research into hypnosis in military
applications is further verified by the Project MKULTRA experiments,
also conducted by the CIA.[148] According to
Congressional testimony,[149] the CIA
experimented with utilizing LSD and
hypnosis for mind
control. Many of these programs were done domestically and on
participants who were not informed of the study's purposes or that they would
be given drugs.[149]
Main article: Self-hypnosis
Self-hypnosis happens when a person
hypnotises oneself, commonly involving the use of autosuggestion. The
technique is often used to increase motivation for a diet, to quit
smoking, or to reduce stress. People who practise self-hypnosis sometimes
require assistance; some people use devices known as mind machines to
assist in the process, whereas others use hypnotic recordings.
Main article: Stage hypnosis
Stage hypnosis is a form of entertainment,
traditionally employed in a club or theatre before an audience. Due to stage
hypnotists' showmanship, many people believe that hypnosis is a form of mind
control. Stage hypnotists typically attempt to hypnotise the entire audience
and then select individuals who are "under" to come up on stage and
perform embarrassing acts, while the audience watches. However, the effects of
stage hypnosis are probably due to a combination of psychological factors, participant
selection, suggestibility, physical manipulation, stagecraft, and trickery.[151] The desire to be
the centre of attention, having an excuse to violate their own fear
suppressors, and the pressure to please are thought to convince subjects to
"play along".[152] Books by stage
hypnotists sometimes explicitly describe the use of deception in their acts;
for example, Ormond
McGill's New Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnosis describes
an entire "fake hypnosis" act that depends upon the use of private
whispers throughout.
The discussion of music as hypnosis was a
development of Franz
Mesmer, a German physician who invented the theory of ‘animal magnetism’ in
the 18th century, combined with the romantic aesthetics of music that portrayed
mesmeric trances to the self. It is a new conception of the self and the
sensual aesthetics of music that portrayed musical mesmeric trance as a
treatment to symptom such as hysteria. Mesmer would often conclude his
treatments by playing music on a glass armonica.[153][154]
Franz Mesmer argued
that music is a matter of ‘sympathetic vibration’, just as his theory of animal magnetism where
the sound vibration can communicate, propagated, and reinforced.[155] Mesmer believe that
his theory of a universal fluid and mesmeric gaze can be manipulated and
contributed to health. The use of instruments such as pianos, violins, harps,
and especially glass armonica were known as the instruments that featured in
his treatment and liable for Mesmer's success.[156]
The direct physical ability of hearing in
human leads to the impossibility to reject the sounds entering the ears. In
fact, music has contributed to external stimuli that provoked exhilaration and
anxiety. This encourage the idea of ‘losing one’s self’, which is a sentimental
escape from the realm of one’s psyche. However, this idea can often be
disturbing and detrimental. It sometimes lead to a harmful concern within the
boundary between oneself and those who manipulate it.[157]
Hypnotic music became an important part in
the development of a ‘physiological psychology’ that regarded the hypnotic
state as an ‘automatic’ phenomenon that links to physical reflex. Jean-Martin
Charcot's use of gongs and tuning forks and Ivan Pavlov’s use of
bell have shown a condition reflexes in their experiment of sound hypnosis. The
idea behind this experiment was to prove the automatic responses to sound and
to physiologically determined the bypassing of the conscious mind. It was clear
that music can be a potential threat to oneself, in which it create
susceptibility to external stimuli and therefore as a danger to self-control
and the sanity of an individual.[158]
The automatic responses to sound shows the
possibility of 'mental contagion' through music where anxiety is related to
unrestrained fears about the impact of music to nerve. The nervous system's
automatic reflexes and its connection between physical stimulation and the mind
has become the main point of the discussion during the eighteen century. The
impact of music on the nerve was seen as a refined context of the nerves of
sensibility. However, by the early nineteenth century, music was assigned and
integrated into the medical critique of modern stimulation. Some medical
critics suggested that music has an ability to directly causes pathologies of
the nerves, but some argued that the effect on the imagination from a musical
nervous stimulation is an extension of the fear; going beyond stimulated nerves
and losing the autonomy.[159]
Between the 1980s and 1990s, a moral panic
erupted in the US that conjugated a corrupted version of the science of
brainwashing; the belief in a literal supernatural threat (Satanic Panic) that
lies within the musical genre of heavy metal. Certain books such as The
Devil's Disciples stated that some bands brainwashed American
teenagers with subliminal messages to lure them into the worship of the devil,
sexual immorality, murder, and especially suicide.[160] The use of satanic
iconography and rhetoric in this genre provokes the parents and society, and
also advocate masculine power for an audience, especially on teenagers who were
ambivalent of their identity. The counteraction on heavy metal in terms of
satanic brainwashing is an evidence that linked to the automatic response
theories of musical hypnotism.[161]
Various people have been suspected of or
convicted for hypnosis-related crimes, including robbery and sexual abuse.
In 2011, a Russian "evil
hypnotist" was suspected of tricking customers in banks around Stavropol into
giving away thousands of pounds worth of money. According to the local police,
he would approach them and make them withdraw all of the money from their bank
accounts, which they would then freely give to the man.[162] A similar incident
was reported in London in 2014, where a video seemingly showed a robber
hypnotizing a shopkeeper before robbing him. The victim did nothing to stop the
robber from looting his pockets and taking his cash, only calling out the thief
when he was already getting away.[163][164]
In 2013, the then-40-year-old amateur
hypnotist Timothy Porter attempted to sexually abuse his female weight-loss
client. She reported awaking from a trance and finding him behind her with his
pants down, telling her to touch herself. He was subsequently called to court
and included on the sex offender list.[165] In 2015, Gary
Naraido, then 52, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for several
hypnosis-related sexual abuse charges. Besides the primary charge by a
22-year-old woman who he sexually abused in a hotel under the guise of a free
therapy session, he also admitted to having sexually assaulted a 14-year-old
girl.[166]
The central theoretical disagreement
regarding hypnosis is known as the "state versus nonstate" debate.
When Braid introduced the concept of hypnotism, he equivocated over the nature
of the "state", sometimes describing it as a specific sleep-like
neurological state comparable to animal hibernation or yogic meditation, while
at other times he emphasised that hypnotism encompasses a number of different
stages or states that are an extension of ordinary psychological and
physiological processes. Overall, Braid appears to have moved from a more
"special state" understanding of hypnotism toward a more complex
"nonstate" orientation.[citation needed]
State theorists interpret the effects of
hypnotism as due primarily to a specific, abnormal, and uniform psychological
or physiological state of some description, often referred to as "hypnotic
trance" or an "altered state of consciousness". Nonstate theorists
rejected the idea of hypnotic trance and interpret the effects of hypnotism as
due to a combination of multiple task-specific factors derived from normal
cognitive, behavioural, and social psychology, such as social role-perception
and favorable motivation (Sarbin),
active imagination and positive cognitive set (Barber), response expectancy
(Kirsch), and the active use of task-specific subjective strategies (Spanos). The
personality psychologist Robert White is often cited as providing one of the
first nonstate definitions of hypnosis in a 1941 article:
Hypnotic behaviour is meaningful,
goal-directed striving, its most general goal being to behave like a hypnotised
person as this is continuously defined by the operator and understood by the
client.[167]
Put simply, it is often claimed that,
whereas the older "special state" interpretation emphasises the
difference between hypnosis and ordinary psychological processes, the
"nonstate" interpretation emphasises their similarity.
Comparisons between hypnotised and non-hypnotised
subjects suggest that, if a "hypnotic trance" does exist, it only
accounts for a small proportion of the effects attributed to hypnotic
suggestion, most of which can be replicated without hypnotic induction.[citation needed]
Braid can be taken to imply, in later
writings, that hypnosis is largely a state of heightened suggestibility induced
by expectation and focused attention. In particular, Hippolyte
Bernheim became known as the leading proponent of the
"suggestion theory" of hypnosis, at one point going so far as to
declare that there is no hypnotic state, only heightened suggestibility. There
is a general consensus that heightened suggestibility is an essential
characteristic of hypnosis. In 1933, Clark L. Hullwrote:
If a subject after submitting to the
hypnotic procedure shows no genuine increase in susceptibility to any
suggestions whatever, there seems no point in calling him hypnotised,
regardless of how fully and readily he may respond to suggestions of
lid-closure and other superficial sleeping behaviour.[168]
Ivan Pavlov stated
that hypnotic suggestion provided the best example of a conditioned reflex
response in human beings; i.e., that responses to suggestions were learned
associations triggered by the words used:
Speech, on account of the whole preceding
life of the adult, is connected up with all the internal and external stimuli
which can reach the cortex, signaling all of them and replacing all of them,
and therefore it can call forth all those reactions of the organism which are
normally determined by the actual stimuli themselves. We can, therefore, regard
"suggestion" as the most simple form of a typical reflex in man.[169]
He also believed that hypnosis was a
"partial sleep", meaning that a generalised inhibition of cortical
functioning could be encouraged to spread throughout regions of the brain. He
observed that the various degrees of hypnosis did not significantly differ
physiologically from the waking state and hypnosis depended on insignificant
changes of environmental stimuli. Pavlov also suggested that lower-brain-stem
mechanisms were involved in hypnotic conditioning.[170][171]
Pavlov's ideas combined with those of his
rival Vladimir
Bekhterev and became the basis of hypnotic psychotherapy in the
Soviet Union, as documented in the writings of his follower K.I. Platonov.
Soviet theories of hypnotism subsequently influenced the writings of Western
behaviourally oriented hypnotherapists such as Andrew Salter.
Changes in brain activity have been found
in some studies of highly responsive hypnotic subjects. These changes vary
depending upon the type of suggestions being given.[172][173] The state of light
to medium hypnosis, where the body undergoes physical and mental relaxation, is
associated with a pattern mostly of alpha waves [174] However, what these
results indicate is unclear. They may indicate that suggestions genuinely
produce changes in perception or experience that are not simply a result of
imagination. However, in normal circumstances without hypnosis, the brain
regions associated with motion detection are activated both when motion is seen
and when motion is imagined, without any changes in the subjects' perception or
experience.[175] This may therefore
indicate that highly suggestible hypnotic subjects are simply activating to a
greater extent the areas of the brain used in imagination, without real
perceptual changes. It is, however, premature to claim that hypnosis and
meditation are mediated by similar brain systems and neural mechanisms.[176]
Another study has demonstrated that a
colour hallucination suggestion given to subjects in hypnosis activated
colour-processing regions of the occipital cortex.[177] A 2004 review of
research examining the EEG laboratory
work in this area concludes:
Hypnosis is not a unitary state and
therefore should show different patterns of EEG activity depending upon the
task being experienced. In our evaluation of the literature, enhanced theta is
observed during hypnosis when there is task performance or concentrative
hypnosis, but not when the highly hypnotizable individuals are passively
relaxed, somewhat sleepy and/or more diffuse in their attention.[178]
Studies have shown an association of
hypnosis with stronger theta-frequency activity as well as with changes to
the gamma-frequency
activity.[179] Neuroimagingtechniques
have been used to investigate neural correlates of hypnosis.[180][181]
The induction phase of hypnosis may also
affect the activity in brain regions that control intention and
process conflict.
Anna Gosline claims:
Gruzelier and his colleagues studied brain
activity using an fMRI while subjects
completed a standard cognitive exercise, called the Stroop task. The
team screened subjects before the study and chose 12 that were highly
susceptible to hypnosis and 12 with low susceptibility. They all completed the
task in the fMRI under normal conditions and then again under hypnosis.
Throughout the study, both groups were consistent in their task results,
achieving similar scores regardless of their mental state. During their first
task session, before hypnosis, there were no significant differences in brain
activity between the groups. But under hypnosis, Gruzelier found that the
highly susceptible subjects showed significantly more brain activity in
the anterior cingulate gyrus than the weakly
susceptible subjects. This area of the brain has been shown to respond to
errors and evaluate emotional outcomes. The highly susceptible group also
showed much greater brain activity on the left side of the prefrontal cortex than
the weakly susceptible group. This is an area involved with higher level
cognitive processing and behaviour.[182][183]
Pierre Janet originally developed the idea
of dissociation of consciousness from his work with hysterical
patients. He believed that hypnosis was an example of dissociation, whereby
areas of an individual's behavioural control separate from ordinary awareness.
Hypnosis would remove some control from the conscious mind, and the individual
would respond with autonomic, reflexive behaviour. Weitzenhoffer describes
hypnosis via this theory as "dissociation of awareness from the majority
of sensory and even strictly neural events taking place."[38]
Ernest Hilgard, who
developed the "neodissociation" theory of hypnotism, hypothesized
that hypnosis causes the subjects to divide their consciousness voluntarily.
One part responds to the hypnotist while the other retains awareness of
reality. Hilgard made subjects take an ice water bath. None mentioned the water
being cold or feeling pain. Hilgard then asked the subjects to lift their index
finger if they felt pain and 70% of the subjects lifted their index finger.
This showed that, even though the subjects were listening to the suggestive
hypnotist, they still sensed the water's temperature.[184]
The main theorist who pioneered the
influential role-taking theory of hypnotism was Theodore
Sarbin. Sarbin argued that hypnotic responses were motivated
attempts to fulfill the socially constructed roles of hypnotic subjects. This
has led to the misconception that hypnotic subjects are simply
"faking". However, Sarbin emphasised the difference between faking,
in which there is little subjective identification with the role in question,
and role-taking, in which the subject not only acts externally in accord with
the role but also subjectively identifies with it to some degree, acting,
thinking, and feeling "as if" they are hypnotised. Sarbin drew
analogies between role-taking in hypnosis and role-taking in other areas such
as method
acting, mental illness, and shamanic possession, etc. This
interpretation of hypnosis is particularly relevant to understanding stage
hypnosis, in which there is clearly strong peer pressure to comply with a
socially constructed role by performing accordingly on a theatrical stage.
Hence, the social constructionism
and role-taking theory of hypnosis suggests that individuals are
enacting (as opposed to merely playing) a role and that really
there is no such thing as a hypnotic trance. A socially constructed
relationship is built depending on how much rapport has
been established between the "hypnotist" and the subject (see Hawthorne effect, Pygmalion effect,
and placebo
effect).
Psychologists such as Robert Baker and
Graham Wagstaff claim that what we call hypnosis is actually a form of learned
social behaviour, a complex hybrid of social compliance, relaxation, and
suggestibility that can account for many esoteric behavioural manifestations.[185]
Barber, Spanos, and Chaves (1974) proposed
a nonstate "cognitive-behavioural" theory of hypnosis, similar in
some respects to Sarbin's social role-taking theory and building upon the
earlier research of Barber. On this model, hypnosis is explained as an extension
of ordinary psychological processes like imagination, relaxation, expectation,
social compliance, etc. In particular, Barber argued that responses to hypnotic
suggestions were mediated by a "positive cognitive set" consisting of
positive expectations, attitudes, and motivation. Daniel Araoz subsequently
coined the acronym "TEAM" to symbolise the subject's orientation to
hypnosis in terms of "trust", "expectation",
"attitude", and "motivation".[35]
Barber et al. noted that similar factors
appeared to mediate the response both to hypnotism and to cognitive behavioural
therapy, in particular systematic desensitization.[35] Hence, research and
clinical practice inspired by their interpretation has led to growing interest
in the relationship between hypnotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy.[70]:105[113]
An approach loosely based on information
theory uses a brain-as-computer model. In adaptive
systems, feedback increases
the signal-to-noise ratio, which may converge towards a
steady state. Increasing the signal-to-noise ratio enables messages to be more
clearly received. The hypnotist's object is to use techniques to reduce
interference and increase the receptability of specific messages (suggestions).[186]
Systems theory, in
this context, may be regarded as an extension of Braid's original
conceptualization of hypnosis as involving "the brain and nervous system
generally".[74](p31) Systems theory
considers the nervous
system's organization into interacting subsystems. Hypnotic
phenomena thus involve not only increased or decreased activity of particular
subsystems, but also their interaction. A central phenomenon in this regard is
that of feedback loops, which suggest a mechanism for creating hypnotic
phenomena.[187]
There is a huge range of societies in
England who train individuals in hypnosis; however, one of the longest-standing
organisations is the British Society of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis (BSCAH).
It origins date back to 1952 when a group of dentists set up the ‘British
Society of Dental Hypnosis’. Shortly after, a group of sympathetic medical
practitioners merged with this fast-evolving organisation to form ‘The Dental
and Medical Society for the Study of Hypnosis’; and, in 1968, after various
statutory amendments had taken place, the ‘British Society of Medical and
Dental Hypnosis’ (BSMDH) was formed. This society always had close links with
the Royal Society of Medicine and many of its
members were involved in setting up a hypnosis section at this centre of
medical research in London. And, in 1978, under the presidency of David Waxman,
the Section of Medical and Dental Hypnosis was formed. Interestingly, a second
society, the British Society of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis (BSECH), was
also set up a year before, in 1977, and this consisted of psychologists,
doctors and dentists with an interest in hypnosis theory and practice. In 2007,
the two societies merged to form the ‘British Society of Clinical and Academic
Hypnosis’ (BSCAH). This society only trains health professionals and is
interested in furthering research into clinical hypnosis.
WHAT IS HYPNOSIS AND HOW DOES HYPNOTHERAPY WORK?
What is hypnosis?
Within science, there is no debate as to whether hypnosis exists or works. Science simply cannot agree on what it is and how it works, although as The British Society of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis states:
"In therapy, hypnosis usually involves the person experiencing a sense of deep relaxation with their attention narrowed down, and focused on appropriate suggestions made by the therapist."
These suggestions help people make positive changes within themselves. Long gone are the days when hypnosis was seen as waving watches and controlling people's minds. In a hypnotherapy session you are always in control and you are not made to do anything. It is generally accepted that all hypnosis is ultimately self-hypnosis. A hypnotist merely helps to facilitate your experience - hypnotherapy is not about being made to do things, in fact it is the opposite, it is about empowerment. If someone tells you they can hypnotise you to do something, ask them to hypnotise you to rob a bank, and when they can't, ask them to stop making ridiculous claims.
The following four extracts from Dr Hilary Jones' book, "Doctor, What's the Alternative?", provide an accurate and accessible wonderful description of what hypnotherapy is, how it works and how hypnotherapy can help you change and grow.
Definition of hypnotherapy
Contrary to popular belief, hypnosis is not a state of deep sleep. It does involve the induction of a trance-like condition, but when in it, the patient is actually in an enhanced state of awareness, concentrating entirely on the hypnotist's voice. In this state, the conscious mind is suppressed and the subconscious mind is revealed.
The therapist is able to suggest ideas, concepts and lifestyle adaptations to the patient, the seeds of which become firmly planted.
The practice of promoting healing or positive development in any way is known as hypnotherapy. As such, hypnotherapy is a kind of psychotherapy. Hypnotherapy aims to re-programme patterns of behaviour within the mind, enabling irrational fears, phobias, negative thoughts and suppressed emotions to be overcome. As the body is released from conscious control during the relaxed trance-like state of hypnosis, breathing becomes slower and deeper, the pulse rate drops and the metabolic rate falls. Similar changes along nervous pathways and hormonal channels enable the sensation of pain to become less acute, and the awareness of unpleasant symptoms, such as nausea or indigestion, to be alleviated.
How does it work?
Hypnosis is thought to work by altering our state of consciousness in such a way that the analytical left-hand side of the brain is turned off, while the non-analytical right-hand side is made more alert. The conscious control of the mind is inhibited, and the subconscious mind awoken. Since the subconscious mind is a deeper-seated, more instinctive force than the conscious mind, this is the part which has to change for the patient's behaviour and physical state to alter.
For example, a patient who consciously wants to overcome their fear of spiders may try everything they consciously can to do it, but will still fail as long as their subconscious mind retains this terror and prevents the patient from succeeding. Progress can only be made be reprogramming the subconscious so that deep-seated instincts and beliefs are abolished or altered.
What form might the treatment take?
Firstly, any misconceptions a potential patient may have about hypnosis should be dispelled. The technique does not involve the patient being put into a deep sleep, and the patient cannot be made to do anything they would not ordinarily do. They remain fully aware of their surroundings and situation, and are not vulnerable to every given command of the therapist. The important thing is that the patient wants to change some behavioural habit or addiction and is highly motivated to do so. They have to want the treatment to work and must establish a good clinical rapport with the therapist in order for it to do so……
The readiness and ability of patients to be hypnotised varies considerably and hypnotherapy generally requires several sessions in order to achieve meaningful results. However the patient can learn the technique of self-hypnosis which can be practiced at home, to reinforce the usefulness of formal sessions with the therapist. This can help counter distress and anxiety-related conditions.
What problems can be treated by hypnotherapy?
Hypnotherapy can be applied to many psychological, emotional and physical disorders. It is used to relieve pain in surgery and dentistry and has proved to be of benefit in obstetrics. It can shorten the delivery stage of labour and reduce the need for painkillers. It can ease the suffering of the disabled and those facing terminal illness, and it has been shown to help people to overcome addictions such as smoking and alcoholism, and to help with bulimia. Children are generally easy to hypnotise and can be helped with nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting) and chronic asthma, whilst teenagers can conquer stammering or blushing problems which can otherwise make their lives miserable.
Phobias of all kinds lend themselves well to hypnotherapy, and anyone suffering from panic attacks or obsessional compulsive behaviour, and stress-related problems like insomnia, may benefit. Conditions exacerbated by tension, such as irritable bowel syndrome, psoriasis and eczema, and excessive sweating, respond well, and even tinnitus and clicky jaws (tempero-mandibular joint dysfunction) can be treated by these techniques.
Related sites:
How Hypnosis Works - articles on how hypnosis works for all sorts of problems
Hypnotherapy works for bowel pain - BBC news article on hypnosis for IBS
Dr Hilary Jones, "Doctor, What's the Alternative?" Hodder and Stoughton: London (1988)
Hypnosis works, then, by shaping our perception of reality by dealing directly with the unconscious mind, the seat of most of our problems, and most of our solutions too.
how does hypnosis work?
There are many theories about the actual mechanics of hypnosis, and making sense of them can be a bit like playing Snakes and Ladders - you tend to end up back where you started a lot of the time. But before considering how hypnosis works, perhaps the first question should be does hypnosis work?
Decades of research and clinical trials have shown that hypnosis can be remarkably effective for a wide variety of conditions. To take a clinical example, a study published in the June 2007 Journal of Paediatrics showed that hypnosis produced a significant drop in the severity and duration of headaches in children, and even a drop in the frequency of the headaches themselves - something like 75%. In the non-clinical field, a University of Iowa meta-analysis by Frank Schmidt showed that hypnosis was three times more effective than nicotine replacement when it came to giving up smoking.
Theories as to how these results are achieved range from the idea that hypnosis produces changes in brain activity, to the idea that the subject is "method acting" the role of a hypnotized person, to the skeptical point of view that it's all down to the placebo effect (which, of course, raises the awkward question "how does the placebo effect work?"). All of these theories, however, are essentially saying the same thing - hypnosis works by communicating with the unconscious mind.
Theories as to how these results are achieved range from the idea that hypnosis produces changes in brain activity, to the idea that the subject is "method acting" the role of a hypnotized person, to the skeptical point of view that it's all down to the placebo effect (which, of course, raises the awkward question "how does the placebo effect work?"). All of these theories, however, are essentially saying the same thing - hypnosis works by communicating with the unconscious mind.
Conscious and unconscious are really just shorthand terms to describe the general characteristics of the human mind. The "conscious mind" is the bit where we tend to "live" - the bit you might think of as "you". If there's a little voice reading these words out loud in your head, that's the conscious mind talking. The unconscious mind is everything else!
The unconscious controls all of the autonomic processes that you don't have to think about - the heart rate, the blood pressure, tissue growth, cell regeneration, the immune system and so on. It's where our thoughts, memories and accumulated experience reside. It controls our emotions, our habits and our responses to the world.
In many ways, it creates that world for us. The unconscious mind handles about two million bits of sensory information every single second. The conscious mind deals with about seven. That means that the reality you're actually aware of from moment to moment has been brought to your conscious attention by the unconscious, in a sort of Readers' Digest version, choosing seven bits which it thinks are important from the two million it's just processed.
The conscious mind is more logical, critical and analytical - it's constantly making value judgments. If somebody was to say to you "you really should give up smoking, you know, it's terribly bad for you", you're highly unlikely to become a non-smoker on the spot. You're more likely to come up with a dozen, rational sounding reasons as to why you should carry on smoking, or you might tell them to shove off and mind their own business. Even if you do consciously accept that you should give up smoking, it's not the conscious part of the mind that's keeping the habit in place.
The unconscious part of the mind, on the other hand, is much more accepting. It's also quite literal and tends to take things personally, relating any information it receives to you as an individual. Hypnosis works by bypassing the critical conscious mind (usually through relaxation or linguistic techniques), and speaking directly to the unconscious in a language which it understands - pattern, association and metaphor.
As mentioned earlier, the unconscious mind is basically in charge. The vast majority of things that we do are unconscious, which we can be grateful for - if you had to consciously think about every single thing you did, you wouldn't do anything. However, it can lead us astray. Most problems are things that we've learned how to do at an unconscious level - we've just learned how to them in an unhelpful way.
Problems are often an attempt at a solution. This is true even for such apparently self-destructive habits as smoking. Many smokers start in their teens, when smoking is seen as a quick way to fit in, acquire adult status or generally appear cool. Through sheer repetition, the unconscious mind becomes convinced that smoking is serving a vital purpose - that it's "good " for you in some way.
Hypnosis works by updating the unconscious mind with new and more helpful information, like reprogramming a computer. It can be used to change associations, so that cigarettes, for instance, are no longer seen as "little friends", and are more realistically regarded as "toxic killers". It can also be used to mentally rehearse better ways of going about things, such as being able to deal with stressful situations without having to light up.
Since the unconscious mind controls our autonomic bodily processes, physical change can also be achieved through hypnosis. Pain control is a very good example. The mind alters our awareness of pain all the time - professional chefs, for instance, get burnt on a regular basis, but rarely notice it unless it's particularly severe. You'll have experienced this yourself if you've ever discovered a cut or a bruise and wondered how it got there. Physical events are still occurring, but the unconscious has relegated them to the 1,999,993 bits of sensory information you're not aware of every single second. Hypnosis can therefore be used to amplify that same response and apply it to a specific situation, such as the control of headaches.
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